Patients at Murwillumbah District Hospital (MDH) will have six more reasons to smile thanks to a generous donation of new life-saving equipment from the hospital’s volunteer-run Coffee Shop.

Profits from the coffee shop help buy equipment for the hospital – this time in the form of six Lifepak 1000 Automatic External defibrillators (AED), which are known for their portability and user-friendliness.

The six units will be placed at the Medical Ward, Surgical Ward, Assessment and Rehabilitation Unit, Recovery, Outpatient Clinic, and the Coffee Shop.

Nurse educators on site have been busy rolling out an education programme to train clinical staff in the use of the new devices. These new machines are an upgrade to replace older models which had been in use for many years.

“Without the support of the amazing team who volunteer their time for our coffee shop, these donations would not be possible,” Kylie said.

“All of the staff at Murwillumbah would like to say a big thank you to all the team at the coffee shop.”

An AED is a sophisticated, yet easy to use device that can automatically analyse a heart’s rhythm and assess if an electric shock is necessary to help re-establish a heartbeat. The units are worth almost $2,500 each.